Of the 51 goals he has Marcus Rashford in his short and brilliant career, none more important than the one that has gotten the British prime minister Boris Johnson, and also throughout the squad. Nothing less than forcing him to back down, and extend the school cafeteria program during the summer to 1.3 million children from poor families who depend on this state aid for food.
Rashford knows what it is to be hungry. Born from the Manchester suburbs to a single-parent family, his mother Melanie dropped him off at school shortly after eight in the morning, the time when children from low-income families arrived for what in England is called the breakfast
club
or “breakfast club:” porridge, eggs, toast and orange juice. This carried a certain stigma, but it helped little Marcus build character.
“I always said that if I was ever in a position to make a difference in my life, and I don’t mean a playing field, I would not hesitate to do so. This has been my opportunity ”
It is the character he has shown now, facing Boris Johnson one on one when he wanted to save the 140 million euros that it will cost to continue feeding students in need during the summer, even if there are no classes. The same Prime Minister who has not hesitated to take a million euros out of the Treasury coffers to paint the official plane he uses for his trips, such as the Air Force One British.
“I always said that if I was ever in a position to make a difference in my life, and I don’t mean a playing field, I would not hesitate to do so. This has been my chance, ”says Rashford, 22, who rarely fails when he finds the goal empty, and Johnson had left it unguarded. Since the pandemic broke out, the conservative leader has been lost and has been stumbling. He was slow to order the confinement, and has been quick to lift it (there are already more than 42,000 dead, and there are still over 1,250 daily infections). He did not obtain tests or material for the health personnel. She applauded the nurses, but tried to apply the charge of 600 euros that is imposed on foreigners from outside the EU (soon also to the community) to go to public health had to go back, as now). As a good populist, he has a lot of instinct to campaign, but not so much to govern.
When he tried to save a few euros by putting an end to the school canteens that had continued to operate during the pandemic even though there were no classes, his ministers nodded, the majority of deputies tories in the House of Commons they were silent, and opposition protests were ignored. It had to be Marcus Rashford who made a messi-style spout for the prime minister, and left him sitting on the ground as if he were a Bayern defender. Seeing the headlines in the press, then Downing Street did change its tune, not to make a fool of itself.
The number 10 – just like Messi- is a product of the Man U youth team. He became known at the age of 18, scoring two goals for Arsenal in their Premier League debut. Four months later he was chosen for the English team that was going to compete in the Euro Cup, and since then he is one of the most outstanding figures in football on these islands. Aside from scoring goals (he has 41 with his club and ten with the national team), he collaborates with three charitable organizations that help the homeless in Manchester, has learned sign language, encourages children to read, and no one can deny Make him a guy with a social conscience, whose contribution goes far beyond match statistics.
In a Twitter message, Rashford had urged Boris Johnson to think of all the children from needy families who had been unable to do so when their water had been cut off when he got up in the morning and had a shower. “He does not know what he is talking about, in this country it is not legal to cut off the water,” replied a Cabinet minister. But his boss had no choice but to accept the red card – like the Manchester United jersey – shortly and make a humiliating retreat. More than a million families will receive a coupon of around one hundred euros, the value of school meals during the holidays. Not a panacea, but a help.
Marcus is part of a generation of politicized English footballers, who do not hesitate to use his fame as a philanthropic platform. of social causes and condemnation of racism, such as Raheem Stirling and Jadon Sancho. Even the eternal rivals of the red devils, Manchester City and Liverpool, accustomed to suffering their outrages, have applauded the goal that has got Boris Johnson.
